STA, 9 February 2021 - Additional stores are expected to reopen on Tuesday following the government's recent decision to allow in-person shopping in all stores under 400 square metres. Although the decree took effect on Saturday, most stores have postponed the reopening until today since they had trouble providing the required testing for their staff.

Only between 10% and 15% of stores that could reopen on Saturday were actually able to do that, according to the Chamber of Commerce (TZS).

The government gave the green light for an extensive reopening on Friday, permitting stores and repair shops under 400 square metres to again welcome their customers in person.

The establishments were allowed to reopen on Saturday under the condition of producing negative tests of their staff. Many could not provide testing earlier though and are expected to reopen today following mass testing among staff over the past long weekend, TZS president Mariča Lah told the STA.

After experiencing issues with the organisation of the testing, businesses were helped out by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The institute told the TZS that retailers could organise the testing drives at community health centres or private testing providers that are either concession holders or not, also providing a list of available private facilities.

Business representatives were told last week by Prime Minister Janez Janša and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek that the cost of staff testing will be covered by the state.

For some services, most notably beauticians, real estate agencies, tutoring and pet salons, both staff and customers must produce a negative test to conduct business.

Mass testing is expected to continue in coming days as staff testing will be obligatory from 12 February for shops and services that had been already open, such as grocery shops and food markets.

All pupils through third form to return to school

STA, 9 February 2021 - Pupils in the first three grades of primary school throughout the country will return to in-classroom instruction on Tuesday in line with last week's government decree. All kindergartens are to reopen.

On Thursday, the government decided to suspend a region-based approach to imposing or lifting coronavirus restrictions, deeming the entire country to be in tier red.

The second strictest phase envisages pupils through the third form returning to school. Moreover, kindergartens that have been closed so far are allowed to reopen today and those that have been providing day care only to parents in essential professions may now go back to full capacity.

Both parents and teachers have welcomed the move, expressing hope that the remaining students may soon follow suit.

Weekly mass testing among teachers teaching in person is still obligatory, with all of them required to have their swab taken at the start of the school week except for those who have already recovered from Covid-19.

A number of schools organised testing already yesterday, whereas the majority will test their staff today.

Rapid testing of teachers in Ajdovščina (W) has detected a high positivity rate (above 15%) among teachers of a local primary school, however subsequent PCR tests came back negative, deeming all the rapid test results fake positives.

The PCR confirmatory testing was used in the Ajdovščina municipality yesterday to confirm or dismiss 20 positive results produced by rapid tests and all of them turned out to be fake positive. Egon Stopar, the director of the Ajdovščina health centre, thinks that the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) should re-assess the quality of the rapid tests.

Slovenia could soon reach tier orange, which envisages in-classroom instruction for the remaining primary school pupils and final years of secondary school as well as resumption of exams and seminars at the university level with up to ten people allowed.

A part of secondary school students intends to boycott remote classes today out of protest against remote schooling. Parents of primary school pupils from the Maribor area have urged a 10-minute suspension of today's classes to voice support for the secondary school students.

STA, 7 February 2021 - Culture Day, which celebrates art and culture on 8 February by remembering the acclaimed Slovenian poet France Prešeren, will try to inspire hope despite being largely observed remotely. Writer Feri Lainšček and architect Marko Mušič will receive the Prešeren Prizes, the top national lifetime achievement accolade.

As usual, this year's national ceremony will be held on the eve of the public holiday, yet it has been pre-recorded and will be broadcast on TV in the evening.

Its main motto is Summons Hope!, said Jožef Muhovič, who heads the board of the Prešeren Fund, which gives out the Prešeren Prizes and produces the ceremony.

It is to highlight that human creativity, culture and art are what we can lean on at a time of ordeals and what we can be proud of on the 30th anniversary of statehood, he explained in a statement for the STA.

"Summons Hope" comes from Prešeren's Zdavljica (Toast), a poem from the mid-19th century whose seventh stanza has become the lyrics of Slovenia's national anthem.

Apart from Lainšček and Mušič, the recipients of six Prešeren Fund Prizes for achievements over the past three years are poet Brane Senegačnik, violinist Lana Trotovšek, theatre director Tomi Janežič, film director Matjaž Ivanišin, painter Sandi (Aleksander) Červek, and architects Blaž Budja, Rok Jereb and Nina Majoranc.

Culture Day, a bank holiday, is usually packed with cultural events and it will be no different this year, it is just that the majority of the events will be online.

Prešeren's poems traditionally recited in front of the monument to the poet in the centre of Ljubljana will be broadcast live on national public radio.

Thirty actors and actresses will interpret them in Radio Slovenija's studios accompanied by live music. What is more, the poems will resound, with the help of sound systems, in the streets of Ljubljana, Koper, Celje, Maribor and Nova Gorica.

Many museums, galleries, libraries and theatres will make available online various events and productions, with the Kranj Theatre, which bears Prešeren's name, broadcasting a talk with this year's Prešeren Prize laureates.

Cankarjev Dom, the country's largest cultural house, will offer most of its recorded productions made since the first lockdown last spring, including concerts.

The Slovenian Cinematheque will honour director Matjaž Ivanišin with the online screening of his short films and a talk with him.

Feri Lainšček, who comes from the Prekmurje region, will be honoured with a performance of literature and music at the regional Murska Sobota Library.

Folk-rock singer-songwriter Vlado Kreslin, who was also born in Prekmurje, will give an online concert from a venue in Ljubljana which will be revealed on the day of the concert.

STA, 5 February 2021 - More than a month after Slovenia launched vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, prioritising the elderly, the number of hospitalisations has decreased. Elderly care homes report that those who were infected between jabs only suffered mild or no symptoms.

Slovenia started vaccinating the elderly in care homes first, as care homes recorded frequent outbreaks and suffered the most fatalities.

By today, nearly 9,500 elderly care home residents received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. A total of nearly 20,000 institutional care users have received at least one jab by now, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has told the STA.

Immunity develops in a specific period after the second dose, seven days after the second jab for the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine and a fortnight for the Moderna vaccine, which have been the two most widely used vaccines in Slovenia.

The country has also recently received the first batch of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, which is, however, recommended for a younger population. Elderly care home residents are on average older than 80.

Many homes reported high shares of residents getting infected between jabs. However, these infections were much less severe, with most patients showing only mild symptoms or none at all. Most importantly, none of those who were infected showed severe symptoms.

Apart from the elderly, nursing home and hospital staff are also being vaccinated in Slovenia at the moment. UKC Ljubljana, the country's biggest hospital, has reported that staff had gotten infected between doses, all suffering mild symptoms or none at all.

The latest data on COVID and Slovenia

STA, 5 February 2021 - One day into the implementation of a decree that sets the public health rules for border crossing, the government has changed the decree to make it simpler for daily cross-border commuters and students, after complaints that the system was unsustainable due to insufficient testing capacity.

The changed rules that entered into force today required that cross-border commuters and students must provide a negative test no older than seven days, a requirement similar to than put in place by Austria that takes effect next week.

Under the changes expected to enter into force on Saturday, the negative test will only have to be submitted for arrivals from countries whose 14-day number of cases per 100,000 population is higher than Slovenia's, government spokeswoman Maja Bratuša said Friday evening.

The same rules apply to EU and Schengen zone nationals who cross the border to help family, maintain contact with children, perform maintenance on property, and some other, smaller groups of exemptions.

The list of countries whose coronavirus statistics are worse than Slovenia's is very short at present and includes only Spain, Portugal and Czechia. The list will be updated on a weekly basis, Bratuša said.

The decision comes after cross-border commuters living along the borders with Austria and Italy started complaining about potentially insurmountable hurdles, a point also raised by centre-left opposition parties.

In the Nova Gorica area in western Slovenia people lined up for hours today to get a free rapid antigen test before free-testing sites close for three days.

Slovenia has a bank holiday on Monday and those working or going to school in Italy on Monday would not be able to get tested on time otherwise.

Simon Vendramin, a senior member of the civil protection force in the region, said the local community health centre was overstretched and would not be able to handle large groups of daily commuters on top of all walk-in tests and regular testing of teachers each start of the week.

The changed government decree is to be published in the Official Gazette this evening and take effect today, according to Bratuša.

STA, 5 February 2020 - Data by Johns Hopkins University from the US shows Slovenia has the highest percentage of population of any EU country that has already received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. A table tracking vaccine efforts around the world shows that 0.90% of Slovenian population has been fully vaccinated.

Some 70,940 doses have been administered in Slovenia, with 18,726 receiving both jabs by now, the Johns Hopkins table shows.

Slovenia's covid tracker Sledilnik, which draws data from the national vaccination registry, shows that more than 54,200 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine by Thursday and over 36,000 the second shot.

Slovenia started vaccination, which is voluntary and free of charge, in late December, with the elderly, care home and hospital staff taking priority.

It is currently using three different vaccines produced by Pfizer/BionTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca, all of which require two jabs.

Israel has the highest percentage of fully inoculated population (18.28%), with the rest lagging far behind. The UAE are in second place, followed by Iceland, the US, the Isle of Man and Slovenia in place six. The EU average is currently at 0.29%.

STA, 2 February 2021 - Slovenia's biggest festival, Kurentovanje, which draws large crowds to the medieval town of Ptuj every year, will only take place online this year. It seems that Kurents, one of the most iconic Shrovetide costumes in the country, are not scary enough to drive away the coronavirus epidemic like they do with winter every year.

Starting today, the festival will run until 16 February and will feature online events focusing on the history of the event and the tradition, as well as highlights of the previous editions.

Talking to the press last week, Ptuj Mayor Nuška Gajšek expressed belief that neither the locals nor other fans of the carnival will forget the tradition. Instead, they will have an even greater appreciation for it, she believes.

Among other things, the festival will feature competitions for best doughnut, which are traditionally eaten around Shrovetide. On Shrove Sunday, usually when the main parade was held in Ptuj, fun ethnographic events will be taking place online, while on Shrove Tuesday comedian Tadej Toš, a native from Ptuj, will bring the festival to an end.

A new brand of wine, Kurent's Mistik will also be launched and an interactive online game, Kurent's Symphony, will be released next week.

Like every year, the postal operator Pošta Slovenije will launch a carnival stamp, while local media have been invited to feature tradition-related content in the period before Lent.

STA, 1 February 2021 - Slovenia will receive the first batch of the newly approved AstraZeneca vaccine, amounting to 15,000 doses, either at the end of this week or the beginning of the next, the STA has learnt from the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

Today, Slovenia expects to receive some 17,500 doses of the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine. The vaccine will be used for second shots, while vaccination of the elderly who have not yet received a jab will continue next week.

In the past days, the most recent Moderna vaccine shipment of 2,400 doses arrived in Slovenia and the next batch, amounting to 4,800 doses, is expected on Friday.

Three more batches of the Pfizer/BionTech are expected in the next three weeks. 17,500 doses are to arrive on 9 February, 21,060 doses on 15 February and 22,300 doses on 22 February, the NIJZ said.

Meanwhile, the supply of AstraZeneca vaccine in the future remains unclear. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday after talks with the company that AstraZeneca is to deliver 40 million doses to the EU by the end of the first quarter of the year.

NIJZ data show that 52,942 people in Slovenia have received their first jab, while 23,035 have already had two shots.

STA, 28 January - The Ministry of Education has notified schools in Zasavje and Obalno-Kraška regions that schools and kindergartens will have to close once again on Monday. The decision comes only two days after pupils of the first three grades and kindergartners were allowed back in nine of Slovenia's 12 administrative regions after more than three months.

The two regions have slipped back into black tier and the government decided on Wednesday that all non-essential services would shut down once again, leaving the decision on schools for today.

The closure comes less than a week after the government decided to allow in-person education for the youngest children and kindergartners, and some additional services to reopen.

Speaking to the press after the government session, Education Minister Simona Kustec said the government also introduced a key change, allowing schools to provide childcare to graders one through three whose parents work in essential infrastructure and security services.

Commenting on the decision to close the schools in the two regions, Kustec said Slovenia has entered a period of constant change and the the government followed closely its epidemic exit plan, under which schools in black-tiered regions are closed.

A number of school heads who will have to switch to remote teaching again next week have expressed regret and disappointment with the decision, with many pointing out that the situation had worsened in their region due to an increase in the number of infections in care homes.

They underlined that the rules of social distancing are being upheld at schools and several have said that their entire staff had tested negative for the coronavirus earlier this week.

Apart from Zasavje and Obalno-Kraška regions, Goriška, Posavska and Southeastern Slovenia are also in black tier.

In black-tiered regions only stores selling mostly groceries are allowed to remain open, as well as some services, such as hair dressers. Kindergartens provide child care only to children whose parents cannot arrange any other form of child care.

Meanwhile, special needs schools remain open also in the black-tiered regions, with staff obligated to get tested once again on Monday.

Exceptions to a ban on gathering in schools remain in place, so as to allow school councillors to provide emergency aid to children and to allow schools to carry out procedures related to completion or continuation of schooling, such as enrolment.

In the seven red-tiered regions, children will remain at home on Monday, as staff will get tested for coronavirus again, Kustec also said.

The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) has advised the government to prioritise keeping the schools open if the situation deteriorates, closing instead other potential locations of infection transmission.

Bojana Beović, the head of the government's coronavirus advisory group, meanwhile told the press today that they did not have a position on whether it was sensible to close schools again after only a week.

"My personal belief is that it is unpleasant to close schools after only a week and that it would be good to take a look at regions individually," Beović said.

The latest data of coronavirus and Slovenia

STA, 27 January 2021 - The National Assembly determined on Wednesday in a 51:13 vote that changes to the foreigners act tightening up conditions for residence for foreign nationals in Slovenia as well as amendments to the international protection act aiming to prevent asylum law abuses are fit for further debate. Both bills were met with mixed reactions.

The first bill also transposes an EU directive that regulates the situation of foreign students and researchers in Slovenia and introduces a concept of a complex crisis, which has drawn criticism from the opposition.

Interior Minister Aleš Hojs told the MPs on Tuesday that the complex crisis concept was a way of enabling a special temporary regime on the border in the event of mass migration in line with the 2019 Constitutional Court decision.

In 2019, the court annulled part of the 2017 contentious amendments, specifically sections of clause 10b of the foreigners act, explaining that they violated Article 18 of the Constitution, which guarantees the principle of non-refoulement.

Based on the latest concept, the government would be able to declare a complex crisis and effectively suspend the implementation of the law under special circumstances such as those seen in 2015 and 2016.

The changes also set down return policy in case of foreigners who are residing in Slovenia illegally and the extension of the deadline for reuniting families up to two years.

Moreover, Slovenian language skills have been made the new requirement for asylum seekers - a foreigner who is entering the country for the first time should have a basic knowledge of the language, whereas the A2 level is a threshold set for a foreigner who has been residing in Slovenia for a number of years.

The complex crisis concept has drawn criticism from the opposition, who believes the regime would pave the way for returning refugees without giving them an option of seeking international protection.

The Left said the measure was contrary to the 2019 ruling and the constitution, whereas the Marjan Šarec Party (LMŠ) described it as even worse than the 2017 controversial changes. On the other hand, the National Party (SNS) believes that the concept heeds the Constitutional Court's ruling.

The coalition New Slovenia (NSi) thinks that integration efforts should be stepped up and the ruling Democrats (SDS) think it necessary to prevent any abuse of the system.

The Modern Centre Party (SMC) also believes that Slovenia has the right and duty to adopt measures that would enable smooth functioning of the country in the event of disproportionate pressure on the asylum system as long as there is no agreement on the EU migration pact.

Meanwhile, the second bill that has been deemed fit to continue its journey through parliament aims to streamline international protection procedures in case of those who actually need such protection and strives to prevent any abuse of asylum law, according to Hojs.

The proposal envisages sanctions for obstructing the implementation of such procedures and violations of or failure to comply with relevant rules.

Those with international protection would be encouraged to integrate and movement restrictions would be made more effective.

Certain parties, including the SDS and SNS, wanted the regulations to be made even stricter, however that would not be in line with EU law, said Hojs when presenting the bill in parliament.

The NSi considers the changes necessary due to an increasing number of asylum seekers. The party said that some 80% of asylum seekers had left Slovenia for other EU countries, describing the situation as a security and social risk in the EU.

The SMC also voted in favour of the bill to pass the first reading. However, at the next stage the party would like to hear the opinion of the parliamentary legal service.

The opposition DeSUS backed the bill, lauding the proposal for what the party sees as efforts to prevent any abuse. The rest of the opposition parties are critical of the bill though, saying it restricts access to international protection or even makes it impossible to get asylum status.